Court ruling puts Middletown school sewer dispute on hold

Thursday

Jun 14, 2012 at 2:00 AM

MIDDLETOWN - A state appeals court has taken the city's side in the school district's lawsuit over who should pay to replace a sewer line that will connect to the new elementary school, reversing a lower court ruling in favor of the school district and bringing the two parties back to where they were before the lawsuit.

Nathan Brown

MIDDLETOWN - A state appeals court has taken the city's side in the school district's lawsuit over who should pay to replace a sewer line that will connect to the new elementary school, reversing a lower court ruling in favor of the school district and bringing the two parties back to where they were before the lawsuit.The court unanimously ruled Wednesday that the school district was “premature” in suing the city in 2010, since the suit came when the parties were still negotiating. However, the new ruling does not address the heart of the dispute – who should pay to replace the sewer line. The line in question goes from Chorley Elementary to Elm Street, and needs to be replaced to handle the increased output from the new, larger school that will replace Chorley, said the city's public works commissioner, Jacob Tawil. Estimates for replacing it have varied from about $1 million to $2 million; the city is designing it now.The city wants the school district to pay part of the cost, arguing that city taxpayers shouldn't shoulder the whole cost when about half of the district's students live in the Town of Wallkill; the district says it can't legally pay for work off of school property. District Superintendent Ken Eastwood said Wednesday that the district would be willing to pay a user fee that all sewer users pay equally, but they would go back to court if the city tried to charge them any more.Mayor Joe DeStefano said he wants the city and the district to go back to Albany, to resume the efforts to get state money for the line.